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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Saturday Mom, Dad, and I attended the wedding of my second cousin Justin and his new wife Jenny. They got married in Terrace Park in Sioux Falls. It was a beautiful day!
They poured sand into the vase with the P on it during the ceremony. My cousins were laughing because I was convinced I needed the same vase with an M on it at Hobby Lobby that morning for my fish. Macie kept telling me it was too small, so I didn't end up getting it. I still love the vase though!
My mom's cousin Sue's family was there, so we spent a lot of time with them. Bryan, Molly, Macie, and I together in this picture outside the KC hall where the reception was held.
We added a few more, Tyler - Molly's husband on the left, and Austin another cousin on the right.
Then we got Justin the groom, and his brothers Austin, Chris, and Ryan together with a Macie, Bryan, and Molly for a cousins picture. They are first cousins.
My parents even got their picture taken.
We took some pictures of Sue's family too. Molly, Tyler, Al, Bryan, Sue, and Macie.
It was such a fun wedding and reception. We all enjoyed spending time together. We were all together a month ago when Tyler and Molly got married, but it was a lot more relaxing and fun for their family not being in the bridal party. The girls enjoyed a major trip to Hobby Lobby where we took out 4 full carts! I'm sure the store loved us. The guys went golfing. My dad and Bryan went along to supervise ie... drink beer. They all had a great time. My dad is not a golfer, but he sure had lots of fun!
It was a fun weekend and we all enjoyed spending time together. We're going to have to do it again soon, but it will probably be next year before we're together again.

On the way to Sioux Falls on Friday I spent most of the morning working on my hexi tablerunner. I had a bunch of flowers done and I started putting them together. I have 7 finished hexi flowers together now, but I'm not sure in which direction this is headed. I had thought I would do a big heart, but I may just do a diamond like Jen did. In any case I need to figure it out before I make too many more flowers. I love the flowers as they go together much quicker and stay smaller than trying to add on to this big piece one hexi at a time.
The last 6 rows on the bottom is the piece I had originially started and given up on because it was getting too big to work with. It's about 4 hexi's wide. I'm not sure that is where it will go, but I put it on the design wally to try and figure it out. Any suggestions on how I should continue with this? I feel like I need more brown. I was just using it in the centers to keep it kind of even.
I feel like I accomplished a lot on it since it's been forever since I worked on it. My friends at work and I have been walking during our morning and afternoon breaks this summer, so I haven't spent much time inside to work on it. I'm going to have it done by Valentine's day this year. I just have to keep working on it! I didn't work on it on the way home, since I drove about half way and then I worked on my paper that was due Sunday night. Only one more paper for this class and summer quarter will be over! I'm looking forward to Fall, since this class wasn't very interesting.

Mom and I know how to have fun when we travel... we go shop hopping. My parents and I went to a wedding in Sioux Falls this weekend, but along the way we had to make a few stops at quilt shops. We traveled on Friday, so the shops were all fairly quiet and we could take our time looking. My dad needs a new overnight bag, so I wanted some fabric that he would like. I found this pheasant fabric in Chamberlain at The Quilt Shop. I'm going to use the Lazy Girl Summer Tote pattern with a few adjustments to make it workable for the type of bag I want. We stopped next in Mitchell and had to do a little manuevering to get to the shop since the carnival was on main street. I'm just glad we were able to get there. The pheasants in the lower right hand corner I picked up at the Pin Cushion in Mitchell. I love how realistic they are. I figure I should have enough and can play around to figure out how I will use them all.
Then it was on to Dell Rapids to Always Your Design. It has moved across the street into two store fronts and WOW! It is huge. We really enjoy going to this shop as they have awesome taste and we always find lots of things to take home. My mom taught one of the owners in high school, so she always enjoys catching up with her.
I brought home a couple yards of this Lamour fabric by Sandy Gervais for Moda. Mom is going to make me a new top out of it.
I also found the one thing I was looking for on this shop hop... Milliner needles size 11 by Richard Hemming and Son. I learned to hand sew binding down with these needles two years ago and I'm down to one left of two packages I've had, so I picked up a few more packages!
Saturday morning we had some time in Sioux Falls before the wedding. My cousins were at the Hobby Lobby, so we went to Dutch Rose Quilt Shop. I found this cute little ArtBin container. At Joann's I found the little cutter I've been searching for, for the past 1.5 years. Mom got a few of them too! They work perfectly for taking sweatshirts apart for sweatshirt jackets.
We went to Heirloom Creations and I picked up thread and a new Creative Grids 4.5x8.5" ruler. I've been slowly adding new Creative Grids rulers to my collection and I love this new one. I'm sure it will get a lot of use. I knew exactly what thread color I was getting low on, so I was prepared. I love Aurifil thread and wish I could find it closer, but at least I can get it on my shop hops and not have to send away for it.
At Dutch Rose Quilt Shop I found this pattern for a baked potato/tortilla warmer. It's different than the ones I have, so I'm looking forward to trying it. We warm up a lot of tortillas.
At The Pin Cushion in Mitchell I picked up the Atkinson Designs Happy Holidays Table Topper pattern. I've wanted this pattern for a long time and finally found it. I love the Halloween look. I'm also thinking it would make a really cool tree skirt, so I may just have to make one of those too.
Last night I stopped at the shop and picked up candy corn fabric and three coordinates to go with it. I'm going to make up a couple table toppers. At Hobby Lobby in SF when we met up with our cousins, we found these really cute candy corn shaped dishes. I think they will be perfect for the center of these table toppers.

Mom and I had tons of fun shop hopping. My dad is a great sport and he patiently waits for us at each shop. We were able to get to 6 shops in 2 days. I always enjoy going to the shops East River and I never know what we might find. We have the same taste, so we skip the shops which are not our style. Now I just have to find the time to make all these projects up before the baby makes it's arrival!

Monday, August 30, 2010

On Tuesday of last week, mom and I met our friends Daisy, Cindy, and Darlene, who we used to work with at the quilt shop, for a night at the fair. We started with going to the midway and getting all of our favorite fair food - gyros, funnel cake, nachos, corn dog, coney dog, and smoothie. We ate under the big tent and had a chance to visit and catch up, since we haven't all gotten together in several months. Then we went to look at the quilts. Cindy had her Buggy Barn Crazy Jacks quilt entered and I still love it. She's a huge Buggy Barn fan, so I always admire her quilts since it's not my type of quilt making.
I also saw this turquoise and brown one that put me in the mood to work on mine. I really would like to get it done yet this fall.
Then we headed next door to the cream puff booth! That was the real destination, but we saved the best for last. Daisy and Cindy with their cream puffs.
Darlene with her huge peach melba cream puff.
Mom and I shared a snickers cream puff. It was so good, but very filling.
It was a fun night with great friends and we're definately going to have to do it again. We're hoping the next time we'll be able to do a sewing retreat together.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Tonight I was super productive! I cleaned, did laundry, and sewed. I put the grommets in the Wallet & Grommet purse I made last night. Then I made the handles and put them in as well. This purse is one of the quickest and easiest patterns I have ever worked with. I'm teaching a class in October on how to make it. It's probably my favorite grommet purse I've made so far.
This is the front of the purse, with the tie on the handle.
A close up of the tie, handles, and decorative stitching I did. I did a decorative stitch with King Tut thread on the top and the handles.
The back of the bag. I love how elegant and dressy this bag looks. The grommets are a golden color.
I'll probably make the wallet too, just to see how it goes. It won't be tomorrow night though. I'm going out with my quilt shop friends for a night at the fair. We're going to look at the quilts and hang out and eat cream puffs. I've missed getting together with them, so am really looking forward to our girls night out.

I absolutely fell in love with my 4.5" double strip 60* ruler when I made the French Braid tablerunner for a class I'm teaching in October. I needed to make two wedding gifts for weddings I'm going to next weekend and I couldn't help but pull out my purple wedding scraps and make tablerunners using the 60* ruler. I cut out 8 WOF strips by 4.5" and then cut the 60* triangles. I had way too many cut out! I used a cream rock candy for the background and made these 8 rows instead of 12. I could have mixed up my colors a bit more, but in the interest of time I decided to follow a pattern. Saturday night I was able to finish up the first one I had started.
I made a second one too. I mixed up the order of pieces a little different for this one.
I put them together to see which one I like better and I think I like the second one better.
Sunday afternoon it was 100+ outside, the first time in 3 years! I stayed downstairs with the AC and started quilting the tablerunners. I did a loopy loop pattern on one for my co-worker. I also put the binding on and got it handsewn down during Big Brother last night.
I added labels to both, using leftover triangles. I love how they turned out.
The other one I did I meandered on it. I used a dark purple King Tut and Bottomline. I got the binding put on it too, but still have a bit of handsewing to do. This one is for a 2nd cousins wedding that I'm going to next weekend. I'm not sure how I lucked out that both weddings were purple and I still have a ton of scraps left over! Some day I will use all the purple scraps, but for now I am just loving that I could totally make both of these from my stash without buying anything. I have enough 60* triangles cut out to do another one, but I think I'll move on and work on some other projects first.

Several months ago, one of my college friends asked if I'd make a fabric book for another friend who is having a baby in the next month or so. She wanted it to be one they could take to church with them. I wasn't sure what I would find, but I sent my mom on the hunt and she found this First Book of Faith at HL. It's perfect for what my friend wanted. I've had it laying on my ironing board/cutting board for the last month or so waiting to be made. I knew it wouldn't take me long, but I just kept putting it off as other projects took priority. Next weekend I'm meeting up with the friend and I told her I would bring it along.
Since this week is sure to go fast and I knew I was in doable range with the tablerunners I had to make for the wedding gifts, I worked on this Sat. night when I didn't feel like getting the quilting frame set up. It only took me a couple hours and I was done, including the hand sewing. I love how it turned out. I really enjoy these quick and easy projects I can do late in the evening.
I didn't put anything on the This book belongs to line, so she can do that when the baby is born. I'm so looking forward to giving this to her. I'm sure she'll enjoy gifting it too.

Last Tuesday, when my mom and great-aunt Mae came to visit, she wanted to see my quilt frame in action. She couldn't believe how big it was. I had two fat quarters ready to put on it and I was able to quickly quilt them up to show her how it worked. She was amazed and now understands how I can get so much done with so many machines and the frame. After she left, I cut out two squares and made "Hold That Thought" envelopes from The Teachers Pet pattern. The big one is the large size and the smaller one is the small size. I put binding on and did the hand work this week during breaks. I also folded and stitched them together. These are samples for the store from a Christmas line of fabric, but they would work in any fabric. It made a super quick project for practicing machine quilting.
The small one holds a gift card and the larger one can hold a jelly roll. I used Fruitcake by Moda fat quarters. I love this line! Totally different Christmas colors, but oh so fun. I thought they would be tedious, but actually they whip together pretty fast and were fun to make.
Aunt Mae's been quilting longer than anyone I've known, but she does all her quilting by hand, so very different than how I learned, but we still learn from each other. I'm so glad she was able to come out for a visit.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

This past weekend we were at my parents again, so we could go fishing. My brother called earlier in the week and wanted to know if we wanted to go tubing down the river. I asked my Dr. and she said it was fine to go, so Paul and I went hunting for tubes. It was a challenge to say the least! I guess it was too late in the season, but we finally found the perfect ones. I also found some water shoes, you know the kind that was popular back in the 90's?? They were great because we did a lot of walking in mud/water/sand/rocks to get into the river and also to get off the sand bars. Sat. afternoon we headed to the river and set up camp. My brother and SIL and her whole family were going to camp, so they got set up. We all changed, blew up the tubes and 7 of us went in my dad's pickup about a mile and a half up the river where he dropped us off and we got in the river. We got in about where the left side of this picture is. I took the pictures from on top of the hill as we were going down.
We floated down the river and half went on the east side of this bend and the other half went on the west side. Needless to say I was on the slow east side. We did finally make it, but it was more work trying to paddle with my arms to get going.
We were on the river for 3 hours and got back to camp about 7PM. Our camp was where the big patch of dark green trees start and it looks like the river ends in this picture.
Paul really enjoyed just floating along.
I did too. It was very relaxing and lots of fun. Although I was very sore from moving my arm muscles that do not ever get that much use!
My dad kept watch on the fishing poles while we were gone. He caught one fairly big one and when we got back Paul caught a huge one. It was 5.5lbs.
Paul and I fished on the shore line while everyone visited. We went back to my parents around 10 as we were exhausted from tubing.
Sunday morning I went with my parents to 7AM church and then we changed and went back to the river. We went tubing again, leaving at 10AM and it only took us 2 hours to get back. We had the river figured out and it went much quicker.It was so much fun! Paul & my bro both got their white beer bellies a bit fried though! Paul, my bro, and my dad skinned and filleted the fish they caught before we headed back to my parents.

Paul and I headed home mid afternoon as I had a paper to write for my class. I feel like a broken record. I'm always writing a paper for class and usually on the weekends we want to be gone. I have another one due next weekend and I'm going to a wedding, so I best get busy on it. I'm a procrastinator! I decided to take another grad class for fall and then take the winter term off.
Monday night I went with my parents to meet my mom's Uncle Arlie & Aunt Mae at a campground south of town. We had a picnic with family and enjoyed visiting for the evening. It was so relaxing. Aunt Mae has always wanted to see my quilt frame, so on Tues. I invited mom and Mae out to see it. On my way home from work I was rear-ended, so I had to wait for the cop to fill out the police report. Luckily the lady had insurance and I was able to go to the Dr. yesterday and everything was fine. Her insurance will fix my bumper and some warning lights that came on, but otherwise no major damage. I feel so lucky. Mom and Mae visited the Sewing Center and got help with her embroidery and also went around Hobby Lobby for a while. They did come out later and got to see my sewing studio and machines. Mae was so impressed and can now understand how I get so much done. I'm so glad we got to visit with her while she was out.
It's been a long week and I'm looking forward to the weekend so I can relax a bit. We're hoping to go to the fair as it kicks off this weekend.

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About Me

I live in South Dakota with my husband Paul and 6-year-old daughter Mikaela and our son Mathew Paul, 4 years old. I love to quilt, sew clothes, and share my love of quilting with others. I've been quilting for 20 years, sewing for 30 years, starting in 4-H at age 7. I enjoy participating in Club Sew and having sewing parties with my great friends, Jenn, Emilee, Gaila, Tammy, Nicole H., & Nicole B.. Paul and I enjoy spending time watching Nascar, fishing, hunting, playing with Mikaela & Mathew, camping in our 5th wheel, and being in the country.